What will attendance be at the SBC Annual Meeting in beautiful, if messy, Birmingham?

It’s less than a month to the convention in Birmingham. Southern Baptists will show up by the thousands and mix and mingle with all the construction crews tearing up downtown. One hopes that there is no reverend road rage. These guys are just working stiffs, doing their job.

Here’s a list of SBC meetings for the past 52 years, courtesy of the Baptist Courier (I added the 2018 figure). This is for registered messengers, not guests, press, or Secret Service personnel.

1967 Miami Beach – 14,794

1968 Houston – 15,071

1969 New Orleans – 16,678

1970 Denver – 13,692

1971 St. Louis – 13,153

1972 Philadelphia – 13,153

1973 Portland – 8,871

1974 Dallas – 18,190

1975 Miami Beach – 16,421

1976 Norfolk – 18,637

1977 Kansas City – 16,271

1978 Atlanta – 22,872

1979 Houston – 15,947

1980 St. Louis – 13,844

1981 Los Angeles – 13,529

1982 New Orleans – 20,456

1983 Pittsburgh – 13,740

1984 Kansas City – 17,101

1985 Dallas – 45,519

1986 Atlanta – 40,987

1987 St. Louis – 25,607

1988 San Antonio – 32,727

1989 Las Vegas – 20,411

1990 New Orleans – 38,403

1991 Atlanta – 23,465

1992 Indianapolis – 17,956

1993 Houston – 17,768

1994 Orlando – 20,370

1995 Atlanta – 20,654

1996 New Orleans – 13,706

1997 Dallas – 12,420

1998 Salt Lake – 8,585

1999 Atlanta – 11,608

2000 Orlando – 11,959

2001 New Orleans – 9,584

2002 St. Louis – 9,609

2003 Phoenix – 7,015

2004 Indianapolis – 8,600

2005 Nashville – 11,641

2006 Greensboro – 11,639

2007 San Antonio – 8,630

2008 Indianapolis – 7,277

2009 Louisville – 8,795

2010 Orlando – 11,075

2011 Phoenix – 4,852

2012 New Orleans – 7,874

2013 Houston – 5,103

2014 Baltimore – 5,298

2015 Columbus – 5,407

2016 St. Louis – 7,321

2017 Phoenix – 5,015

2018 Dallas – 9,632

This year? Probably considerably less than last year in Dallas. Nothing drives convention attendance (or social media numbers) like controversy. There is no election of note this year and no big issue. The sex abuse activits and survivors have a rally planned but I’d guess that will not drive messenger attendance.

And, no, you cannot and should not be able to be a messenger unless you show up in Birmingham and get construction dust on your nice, dry cleaned blue jeans and your spiffy Huarache sandals or your expensive Nike Adapt BB, self-lacing, Bluetooth-enabled sneakers.

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About William Thornton

William Thornton is a lifelong Southern Baptist and semi-retired pastor who served churches in South Carolina and Georgia. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. You may find him occasionally on Twitter @wmgthornton.

I didn’t realize that the SBC hasn’t met in Alabama for more than 50 years. I’d bet that Alabama ranks among the top five states in terms of the number of messengers that have attended conventions, along with Mississippi, which they don’t appear to like as a convention gathering place either. Nor Arkansas. But I’m guessing that’s because those places probably don’t have convention facilities large enough or hotel facilities. I haven’t seen anyone here comment about difficulty getting a hotel room close to the convention center or with shuttle service, so I’ll guess attendance will come in somewhere around 7,500. There are a lot of Southern Baptists who live close enough to Birmingham to commute, and there might be a lot of messengers who just come for the first day.

May 12, 2019 11:29 am

Louis

I’m predicting 6500. I’m predicting difficulties with the logistics. I hear B’Ham can be a mess in this way.

I’m hoping there’s not a lot of stifling virtue signaling on a bunch of issues.

It would not surprise me if there is a line to take selfies outside the building that used to be the Birmingham Jail. I await to see how many speakers bring up that they went by there to pray etc.

Then there’s the 16th Street Baptist Church. Poor congregants. I am wondering if they’ll be besieged the Sunday before the Convention with SBC dignitaries trying to get seats for the Sunday services. Does anyone know if any SBC person got a speaking gig or platform spot for the Sunday before the Convention? Do you know if any tried?

The Resolutions Committee, to my knowledge, has never had so many connections to one SBC institution.

I am hopeful that we can concentrate on what we do best. Handle the business we need to handle. Hear reports from agencies, especially the IMB and NAMB – the reason for our convention in the first place.